Former Street Outlaws ‘Silver Unit’ Getting Converted for Drag-and-Drive Duty?
It’s not uncommon to see purpose-built race cars, or cars that haven’t seen street-miles in several years, to be converted for drag-and-drive duty.
In the case of the 1985 Chevrolet Camaro shown here, it has seen plenty of street miles during its time on the popular television show ‘Street Outlaws.’ Now, it is getting a new lease on life for debut on the drag-and-drive side of things.
The ‘Silver Unit’ debuted on the show with a Chevrolet big-block powerplant aided by nitrous, and enjoyed a spot on the top ten Oklahoma list for awhile.
After getting switched to a ProCharger combination, the Camaro sat on the sidelines before getting sold to Mark Barnes and Mackenzie O’Neil, and the two are hard at work getting the car converted for drag-and-drive duty.
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“We’ve already put a 427 cubic inch LS-based engine in it that Mackenzie built,” said Mark, Mackenzie’s father. “We were going to run it on nitrous, and then I got to talking to Summit Racing. Now we’re leaning hard to do a twin-turbocharger set-up.”
The current engine is based on a stock GM block and Mark feels that could handle the nitrous. But for the twin-turbo combination, Mark has a Dart block based LS with Frankenstein cylinder heads that he says would be better at handling the amount of power they plan to eventually dial in.
For Mackenzie, the Camaro will be a big step from her first drag-and-drive experience behind the wheel at this year’s Rocky Mountain Race Week (RMRW), running the Junior Street class in a 1989 Pontiac Trans Am and finishing just outside the top five average with a 10.67 average on the eighth-mile standard.
“I’m super excited, but nervous because I’ve never been in anything close to that fast,” Mackenzie said. “I’m sure when it’s time I’ll be fine, but thinking about it right now, it’s a lot to process.”
No matter how long it takes for Mackenzie to be comfortable in the new ride, she grateful for her dad Mark getting her into the drag-and-drive scene. “He introduced me to it 2021 at RMRW,” said Mackenzie. “Although we weren’t able to complete the event due to a broken transmission, we were able to finish this year in our turbo Trans Am. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve done, and it was great to have the time and bond with my dad.”
The family plans to possibly have the Camaro ready for a 2024 Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive debut.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Mackenzie O’Neil.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com